Praetorridus
by TheFourthNorn
Summary: Obi-wan has disappeared. Anakin and Ahsoka become increasingly more worried as each day passes without word from their friend and Master. When the trail ends with a burned out ship and an abandoned lightsaber, its all they can do to not lose hope.
1. Dust

Anakin walked down the corridors of the Jedi Temple, a small frown on his face. He clutched a datapad, scrutinizing its contents. A small breeze ruffled his hair as he passed the courtyard and he looked up, spotting his Padawan meditating with Barriss Offee by one of the trees. He smiled softly and approached the two. It seemed they were nearing the end of their meditation. Barriss stood and, seeing Anakin, bowed to her peer.

"Pardon me, I think I will take my leave." She said softly.

Anakin and Ahsoka both nodded to her as she left the courtyard.

"Hey Snips, can I bother you for a minute?"

Ahsoka stood and turned towards Anakin. She smiled. "Of course. What's up?"

"I'm looking for Obi-wan." Anakin said, "have you seen him? I can't get ahold of him for some reason and he's not in the Temple."

Ahsoka tilted her head. "Is his communicator off?"

"I don't know, but I need to go over some strategies with him that I was thinking of incorporating into our next mission." He gestured with the datapad in his hand.

Ahsoka shrugged as she and Anakin wandered out of the courtyard. "Maybe he's with the council."

"I already checked with the council. He hasn't been to a meeting in a while."

"That's… weird…" Ahsoka frowned. "he's really good about showing up to those meetings"

Anakin's eyebrows furrowed as he rubbed his chin. "Hmm. I'm going to check his apartment, though it's somewhat of a long shot. He hardly ever stays there for long."

Ahsoka's face softened. "I'll come with you. I feel like I haven't seen the old man around in ages."

Her wry smile made Anakin roll his eyes and shake his head as they left the courtyard.

"C'mon Snips." He chuckled. "You need to tell him he's old directly to his face. It'll be hilarious."

* * *

Obi-wan had a small apartment not far from the Jedi Temple for when he was staying on Coruscant for an extended period of time. It was humble and somewhat bare, but he'd always told Anakin and Ahsoka that it was open to them at any time. Ahsoka frowned thoughtfully as they arrived at his building. Something felt off, though she couldn't tell what it could be.

"When did you see Master Kenobi last?" Ahsoka asked.

Anakin grimaced. "After he got back from his personal trip to Mandalore. He… seemed a little shaken, but he was okay…"

"Anakin, what even happened there?" the togruta said softly.

Her master sighed. "I don't know much. I just lent him a ship and he came back in Mandalorian armor, on a ship full of Death Watch warriors who were surprisingly not trying to kill him."

They made their way up a few levels, passing clean little walkways and painted doors.

"That sounds like a crazy adventure."

Anakin snorted as they approached Obi-wan's apartment door. "You'd think he'd get a little less action when he's not around us." He pulled out a card and swiped it in the lock. "But apparently he's just as stubborn as a—"

Anakin trailed off as the door slid open. A small puff of dust escaped the room.

"What the…"

The two jedi looked at each other in confusion. Anakin slid his lightsaber into his hand and Ahsoka eyed him with a questioning look. He shrugged one shoulder slightly, "Just in case."

He entered the dark room, noting that the windows were opaque in the middle of the day. Ahsoka trailed behind.

"I… I don't sense anyone here." Ahsoka said, a tinge of disappointment in her words.

"Me neither. He's not here, but maybe we can find out something about where he's gone."

Ahsoka flipped on the lights and they both just stared at the room. _Everything_ was covered in dust.

"Ok… I know Master Kenobi doesn't hang out here much, but this is extreme." Ahsoka said, a tinge of unease reflecting in her otherwise sarcastic statement.

Anakin's eyebrows furrowed and he put his hands on his hips as he scanned the room. "When was the last time he even came here?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "Last time I remember was Life Day. But that's when _we_ were here with him. I'm sure he's been here since then."

Anakin shook his head. "This is odd."

"Where could he be?"

"All I know is that he hasn't been here in days, maybe even weeks." Anakin said as he wiped a gloved finger on the countertop, leaving a trail in the dust.

"Maybe he's on a mission?" Ahsoka suggested with a hopeful tone.

"No, that doesn't make sense..." Anakin frowned, thoughtfully. "He would've told me… or the council..."

There was a moment of quiet as they stood there in Obi-wan's empty apartment, breathing in dusty air and trying to figure out where he could possibly be.

"I'm worried now, Anakin." Ahsoka said quietly.

He tightened his lips. "Yeah, me too, Snips."

Their faces slowly hardened to determination. "I'm going to look at his comms records." Ahsoka said.

Anakin nodded. "Good plan. Let's head to the archives."

They locked the door on the way out, dust settling behind them.

* * *

It was a quiet day in the archives. It seemed most everyone was taking some time to breathe after their latest battle against the Separatists. Ahsoka bit her tongue in concentration as she dug through the latest comm files for the field generals. Anakin stood over her shoulder, searching for Obi-wan's comm tag.

"Why did we think this was a good idea?" Ahsoka groaned. "There are so many records, it'll take hours to find his latest comm."

"Relax, Snips. We just need to start from the most recent and work our way down."

"There's gotta be a faster way to do this" she mumbled grumpily.

Anakin snorted "Yeah well, they couldn't make it easy for us, could they."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. The data continued to scroll past and she focused once more on finding Obi-wan's comm tag. It seemed like this was going to take an eternity.

"Wait! Right there." Anakin stopped the list. "Wow… this is pretty far down the list."

They'd been in the archives for close to an hour, simply sifting through the massive amounts of data.

Ahsoka pulled up the file and frowned. "It's marked as a personal file, not related to the war."

"What?" Anakin bent closer to the display. "What's the next one?"

Ahsoka pulled up his stream of comms, accessible now that they'd found Obi-wan's tag. "Before that was a private situational report about his trip to Mandalore."

Anakin pursed his lips in concern. "Hmm… let's look at the latest one."

Ahsoka turned and looked at Anakin with surprise. "The personal one?"

"Yeah, pull it up."

"Isn't that a little… rude? It really could be something super personal, Master."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "C'mon Snips. It's Obi-wan. He has no personal life. And if he does, I'm fairly certain he wouldn't mind us snooping a little."

"Okay, for the record, I think even Obi-wan has his boundaries of what personal information he shares with you. I also think he's going to chew us out for snooping in his personal stuff." Ahsoka gave Anakin a look.

"Pshh. Whatever. Obi-wan is the epitome of I-have-no-personal-stuff."

Ahsoka shook her head and opened the file.

They read in silence for a moment. Then Anakin spoke. "What… the... hell?"

Ahsoka stared in disbelief. "Is… Is that an actual request for… time off?"

"Obi-wan has never taken a vacation in his life." Anakin said incredulously.

"Was it even granted? We're in the middle of a war." Ahsoka scanned over the information. "I don't think it was… the request went in but I don't see a reply here."

Anakin stood up straight and crossed his arms in bewilderment. "Huh. I mean… I guess that explains why he's not here."

Ahsoka frowned. "But not why he isn't answering his comms."

Anakin rubbed his chin in thought. "Relax... I think he's just finally taking a well-deserved break. Let him have some time to himself."

"I don't know, Master. This seems weird to me."

"Hey." Anakin's voice softened. He put his hands on Ahsoka's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "I'm sure he's okay. We just need to give him some time, okay?"

Ahsoka nodded thoughtfully.

"Plus," Anakin added playfully, "For all we know he's probably just meditating on some rock in the middle of nowhere."

Ahsoka laughed. "What, is meditating not your ideal vacation, Skyguy?"

Anakin smirked. "Absolutely not"


	2. Fire

_Smoke billowed up and filled the wreckage that was once a cockpit. Sparks shot off from severed wires and the space was filled with the dim flickers of a fire that had consumed the engines and was making its way towards the mangled nose of the ship. A figure lay on the floor, bits of rubble scattered on his prone form. One large chunk of metal sat directly on top of the man's left arm, trapping it beneath the crushing weight. The ship groaned and creaked as more bits and pieces fell apart and succumbed to the fire. _

_The figure stirred and attempted to rise, finding himself in the vice-like grip of the collapsed beam. His working hand scrambled to pry the metal off of his trapped arm, but the beam was too heavy and his hand too slick with blood. The man flinched as a chunk of the roof caved in a few feet away from his head. His blue eyes were wide with fear. He stilled himself, lifting his bloodied hand towards the beam preventing his escape. He concentrated and the beam shifted slightly. He winced and steeled his features, reaching out again with the Force. The metal shifted again, very slowly beginning to rise._

_He almost had the beam high enough to slip his arm out when an overhead panel toppled down towards the man's grimy face. He panicked and threw out his free hand, pushing the object's trajectory away from his head with the Force. His focus on the debris he'd been so close to escaping from wavered. The beam crashed down once more onto the man's arm and he let out a cry of pain. He sucked in a trembling breath and screwed his eyes shut as he lay on the floor of the burning, collapsing ship that may soon be his end._

_He reached for his lightsaber that had fallen off of his belt and rolled under the dashboard in the crash. Maybe he could cut himself free. The weapon flew into his grip and he ignited it, panting in pain and fear as he surveyed the chunk of debris that was trying so hard to be his doom. The fire was getting closer and the metal was becoming unbearably hot. He reached out with the saber, the tip wavering as his arm trembled. He slowly dug the saber into the metal near his arm. The metal hissed as it came in contact with his lightsaber. The man grunted in pain as molten bits dripped onto the sooty skin and fabric of his arm beneath it._

_Metal shrieked as he heard another section of the ship completely collapse. He paused his cutting, taking a moment to lean back his head and assess how close the fire was. Turning back to his lightsaber as the flames licked the rubble mere inches from his head, his cutting became more frantic. Large globs of the melting metal plopped down onto his bicep as he bit back a scream. Another piece fell from the ceiling landing on his knee, startling him. The blood-slick saber slipped from his grip. He only just managed to flip the switch before it landed on the floor and rolled, bumping up against his aching ribs. _

_His head fell to the floor once more and he whimpered slightly as he stared up at the fractured ceiling. He felt stinging heat tickling nearer to his head and he really hoped his hair hadn't caught fire. He looked at the half-molten beam that was both burning and crushing his arm. His hope flickered as he surveyed the damage he'd done. Why did he ever think he could cut his way out? The beam was resting on such an angle that even if he managed to cut it away from his arm, it would collapse and trap him again._

_He closed his eyes for a moment and took in another shaky breath. He grabbed his lightsaber again. Raising it up he looked at it. The grooves were red, filled with the blood from his hand. He studied the beam once more. Pain flared up against his skin. The fire was too close. He would burn alive if he did not escape._

_The man steeled his expression and gathered what little of his strength remained. He ignited the lightsaber once more and held it parallel to the beam as close as he could. His hand trembled as he looked down at his trapped arm. _

_He closed his eyes._

_And swept the lightsaber down._

* * *

Ahsoka gasped and sat up. Her heart was racing within her chest and she absently reached up and rested her hand over it. She had been asleep seconds ago and her dream was fading quickly. A chilling anxiety bloomed in her sternum as she tried to recall its events. There was nothing specific. She could not remember what happened but she still felt the panic the dream had caused and a vague feeling that someone very close to her was in peril.

Glancing worriedly at her surroundings, Ahsoka realized she had fallen asleep in the archives. The datapad on the table in front of her had long gone dark, but a simple touch lit up the screen once more. She attempted to dive back in and finish the report she was compiling for Anakin, but she was distracted. The togruta rubbed her face and sighed, her brow scrunching. The unsettling feeling had not dissipated. She needed to meditate and clear her mind.

Ahsoka found a quiet corner of the archives. She sat and closed her eyes, willing her racing thoughts to still and her heart to steady. She breathed deeply, reaching out in the Force. It caressed her softly in its own familiar way. Ahsoka smiled. She let the Force pulse within her, carrying her soul whichever way it chose. It tugged a little and she let herself follow. There was the same uneasy feeling from her dream. The togruta frowned, still she allowed the Force to guide her. Ahsoka gasped softly as she had an impression.

There was Fire

And Fear

She almost pulled back, but willed herself to allow the Force to show her more. There were bright red flashes of light. _Blaster bolts_. The jolt of a ship that had been struck. The gut-dropping sensation of gravity's pull. Determination. A collision with rock, dirt, and sparse foliage. Blue eyes fluttering open.

Fire.

_Fire._

_FIRE._

Ahsoka panicked and yanked herself from the grip of the Force. She was breathing hard, her eyes wide. She felt as though the phantom flames were still crawling up her arms. Curling into herself and hugging her arms, Ahsoka steadied her breathing. Something was obviously very very wrong. She furrowed her brow and stared at her hands.

_Blue eyes…_

Her breathing stuttered and she felt as though a fist were clenching her heart. _Oh no. Oh no no no._

_Master Kenobi._


End file.
